Chapter 38: Canicular 1
Naruto
(Saturday night, May 19th)
"I still think it's weird you forgot your own birthday."
Kuro flew across the room in an impressive leap, jumping off of my chest like it was a springboard to land within Koneko-chan's unsurprised arms, hugged against the actual board that was her own chest.
I grinned in amusement as my friend stepped into the living room with a pink towel draped over her head, still damp from her shower, staring at me suspiciously as if she had a sixth-sense specifically for the purpose of knowing when I was teasing her in my head.
Actually, that probably wasn't far off from the truth, from what I'd learned about this world's standard version of Senjutsu. I had an actual in-depth conversation with that Yoru guy yesterday when he came across me meditating in one of the forests surrounding the town, and it gave me a lot of helpful details and specifics that Koneko and I had been missing due to her lack of youkai teachers or experience.
When I asked what he was doing out in a random forest (because it was kinda hella suspicious for him to just 'stumble' across me that far from any trails), he admitted that he'd been instinctively drawn to the area when he'd cast his senses out. Something about how my presence was simultaneously almost unnoticeable, but somehow also very welcoming.
Apparently the sensing ability the youkai's version of Senjutsu gave them access to was way more comprehensive than my own, even if my basic use of natural energy was stronger for direct combat than theirs. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Koneko was unconsciously tapping into that, to read some small cue of mine to know something was off.
Then again, it could just be that she knew me pretty well at this point.
"Like I said earlier," I replied with a light shrug, "it's complicated. I didn't really pay attention to it that much when I was younger. It was only in the past few years that I really had people to celebrate it with, so it slipped my mind with how busy the past month has been." That was only partially true. I was genuinely surprised the other day when I opened the bento Akeno made for me, completely forgetting that my official records in this world said my birthday was on the 17th.
But I absolutely did pay a lot of attention to it when I was younger, although most of that awareness was me being full of longing and jealousy of the kids who had parents to celebrate their own birthdays with.
"Hm." Koneko hummed while she walked around my couch in an oversized light-pink t-shirt and short shorts, clearly not buying it as she sat next to me. "I don't buy it. What's the real reason?"
"I'm your damn sensei," I huffed petulantly, crossing my arms and turning my head away. "Where's the trust?"
I felt and heard the cushions move as Koneko shifted on them, before feeling a tug on my shirt, and the soft pressure of Kuro's paws stepping on my thighs as she made her way back into my lap. I glanced back to see slim fingers clutching my sleeve. The girl they belonged to had turned in her seat to fully face me, her smooth, pale legs tucked to either side of her while she looked up at me with her doll-like face.
"Nn, I trust you." The two cat ear-shaped lumps shifted under the towel that was still on her head as she lightly shook it. The too-large t-shirt slid to the side a little, exposing one of her shoulders. "But I want to know you better. To have your trust too," She said quietly.
Even with the lights on, her eyes almost seemed to glow.
…
"That's totally unfair, you cheater." I deadpanned. "Taking advantage of my feelings like that."
"You taught me that ninjas don't fight fair," Koneko rebutted, monotone. "Is it working?" She asked plainly with a tilt of her head, the act broken as the towel slid off her head.
"Pssh, as if! Uzumaki Naruto is made of sterner stuff than to fall for tricks like that!" I bragged loudly, ignoring the warmth in my cheeks and the fact that she had almost certainly heard my heart skip a beat or two.
"Wasn't lying…" Koneko made her 'I'm not pouting' blank-faced pout. "I meant what I said."
I knew that, but it didn't mean I would let her think her cuteness was a free pass to getting me to fess up.
"I guess I can make an exception this one time..." I drawled, as if it was a chore to give her this concession. "Just as a reward, for, y'know, putting my lessons to practice."
At the same time though, at this point, I didn't really have a reason not to tell her the main reason I forgot my birthday. I didn't even have to mention the 'from another world' thing to tell the truth!
I snickered when she let go of me and pumped her fist, her blank expression almost imperceptibly brighter.
"Let me start this off by saying, as far as I'm concerned, my birthday was two days ago," I began. "BUT, despite that, and what my government ID says, I was born on October tenth."
Her head tilted again in slight confusion, but she patiently waited for my explanation.
"Remember how I mentioned that I was in a really tough fight before I got crippled?" I asked with a sheepish smile. Koneko nodded. "Well, I was fighting that chick on my birthday, October tenth. During the battle, she opened a portal to the empty space between dimensions right in front of me, right as I was charging her and activating the technique that split my soul."
"The Dimensional Gap?" She asked suddenly with widened eyes and raised brows, her face showing a rare level of reaction. Kuro stiffened in my lap and pawed at my stomach, as if startled by the change in tone. I absently began stroking her fur while shrugging.
"If that's what you guys call it, sure. Anyways, I fell into the portal on October tenth with my chakra system wrecked, and was found in one of Kuoh's parks on the shinigami's doorstep by my landlord on May seventeenth, last year." I shrugged again. "I didn't exist in the government's system, so they set me up with official records and listed my birthday as the seventeenth. I just forgot to account for the weird timeline change and stuff, since I'm used to it being in October."
This time it wasn't just Koneko looking at me, even Kuro had craned her feline head around to stare up at me like I was a weirdo.
But she was just a cat, so what did she know!
Koneko's head eventually bobbed once in a nod. "Okay."
"'Okay'?" I echoed in confusion, having expected… I don't know what I expected, but definitely something more than that as a reaction. "That's it?"
"Mm." She nodded. "Your past is as weird as you are, but I trust you."
"Oi, wanna run that one by me again?"
Koneko ignored my threatening tone and held both her hands in front of her, palms up. A pair of small red magic circles lit up above them with a spin, and two boxes wrapped in bright orange wrapping paper appeared in her palms, neat little bows tied on top.
"Koneko-chan?" I glanced down at the presents dumbly, caught off guard. One of them was smaller than the other; about the size of a bento box, compared to the one that was as big as a shoe-box.
"I didn't know what to get you on short notice, so I got these two." She held out the boxes insistently, looking up at me. "Happy birthday, Naruto-kun."
I smiled awkwardly. "You really didn't need to get me anything, ya know. Just hanging out is enough for me, but thanks–" I froze, before a wide grin stretched across my lips at the unexpected third gift she'd just given me.
"Alright!" I pumped my fist, to her wary confusion. "You said it!" I pitched my voice up in a bad mimicry of hers "'Happy birthday, Naruto-kun.' You finally called me by name outside of training! Yes!"
She ignored my outburst, looking away with slightly red cheeks and twitching eyebrows, and spoke as if nothing had happened. "The one I was looking at didn't feel like enough, so I got something more practical to go with it." She shoved the boxes against my side since Kuro was taking up my lap space.
I accepted the gifts and began tearing off the wrapping, starting with the smaller one.
Inside was a thick spool of high quality, high-tensile strength, extra-thin metal wire. I wouldn't know how well it compared to the ninja wire back home until I tested it out, but at the very least, it would be really useful for setting traps and upgrading my forearm-mounted kunai holsters.
"Nice." I hummed in appreciation, a couple ideas for a new release mechanism already running through my head.
I pushed the thoughts aside and unwrapped the second one, lifting the lid to reveal…
A stuffed animal.
I lifted the orange plushy toy to eye level with both my hands under its 'armpits', and silently stared into the foxy face with blank eyes. It stared back, round, glossy black eyes even more blank than my own, with a floppy pink tongue extending out from the corner of the black stitching that marked its 'mouth'. With nine equally floppy tails hanging down below it…
… I pictured a shrunken-down Kurama, with his dumb rabbit-fox face making the same expression.
"Pffff-!"
Eventually, I managed to stop laughing long enough to apologise to Kuro for falling off the couch and disturbing her seat on my lap, as well as to thank my friend for the perfect three gifts. Eventually.
Kuoh Academy, behind the old school building
(Tuesday, June 19th)
I shifted to the right, dodging the right jab thrown at my side.
'Left cross with a step forward, footing and weight distribution off; probable feint.'
I smacked the fist aside with a backhand, sending it wide to her left to open her guard, and stepped back instead of trying to take advantage. Koneko had shorter limbs than me in the first place anyway since I had just over half a foot of height over her, so backing out of melee range left a small window where I was still in range to attack her, but she wasn't able to attack me.
The hard surface of her left kneecap just missed me, swinging up into the space my midsection had just occupied a split second ago with a swish of displaced air. I suddenly leaned back when she immediately twisted on her foot and her extended leg shot out in a karate kick aimed at my face, stumbling slightly when my school jacket fell off my shoulders and almost tangled up the back of my legs. The sole of her sneaker missed my nose by barely a centimeter, and with a twist of her whole body, she swung that leg down and used the momentum to rotate into a spin kick.
I flicked my wrist and ducked under her heel, but Koneko stopped her foot directly above me, so I had to react fast and brought my hand up to catch her by the ankle, halting the heel-drop that probably would've dislocated my shoulder. The metal wire that had been hidden within the folds of my jacket– that she was currently standing on– swung up with my wrist movement, a twitch of my finger snapping the looped wire to wrap around her sock.
I still had her other ankle awkwardly trapped in my grip above her head-height, so it was game over.
My eyes met hers in what felt like slow motion as I yanked on the wire, only for my eyes to widen as her weight shifted in my grip and the wire continued sliding around her limb loosely, feeling no resistance from my yank. My eyes flicked down for a single moment, just to see the other end of the wire slip out from the loop, the kunai that it had been tied around nowhere to be found. Just a plain, thin, wire end that had no weight or knot to catch on the loop to tighten.
Koneko kipped up off of that foot in the same moment, leveraging my grip around her other ankle to swing her leg up and hook it around the back of my neck while my arms were out of position, then immediately throw her body back and downwards. Without being able to stick to the ground with chakra anymore, basic physics pulled me down with her.
I let go of her ankle to brace against the fall with both hands, but both of her hands were still free too, and she grabbed my wrists with her own vice grip, holding my arms to the sides. She landed hard on her shoulders and neck, abusing her [Rook] durability to its fullest in order to not even flinch as she somesaulted us with the momentum.
I felt the shift of gravity as the world went upside down for a moment, my vision entirely blocked by her white gym shirt, before my back slammed into the packed earth with a deep thump, the weight on my torso bouncing with the impact a little like I was some sort of shock absorber. My breath left me with a wheeze while my vision was full of the open blue sky, bordered by the canopy of leaves surrounding the clearing.
My student's face popped into the bottom of my view, a rare satisfied smile on her lips while she leaned forward to hover over me.
"That's my win."
I blinked while catching my breath, straining against her grip on my wrists for a moment in a failed attempt to escape her pin, before giving up and letting her pin my hands next to my shoulders. I lifted my head up to look directly at Koneko-chan and chuckled weakly.
"I guess it is, you win," I admitted with a grin. "By the way, how did you know–"
"Using your jacket as a distraction is one of your favorite tactics, and pretending to make a mistake is another," she cut me off. "I also saw the wire. My eyes are much better than a human's." She said it all in a deadpan tone like it should be obvious, but I could tell she was proud of herself. It wasn't often she beat me in spars since she had to restrain to a certain level of power. In this case, it was no chakra allowed.
Usually she was handicapped even further, needing to pull her punches since I wasn't able to handle her full strength without massive injury at the time, but my gradual recovery of my physical strength and speed over the month meant that she was now fine using her base abilities against me without too much worry.
"Sorry, by the way," she continued with an apologetic look. "You probably need another new jacket. I smashed it hard with my heel to snap the wire."
"Eh, don't worry about it," I assured her with an attempted shrug. "I'm the one who keeps using it in fights, so whatever happens to it is my fault."
"Mm." She accepted that.
It got quiet for a moment, each of us just looking at the other.
"Ara ara~, how scandalous~!"
A shiver of uncertain dread ran down my spine, which was currently being pressed into the dirt.
Koneko-chan and I turned our heads at the same time to look at the source.
Akeno was caressing her cheek with a palm, her other hand clutching her elbow as she smiled mischievously at us from the close edge of the clearing.
"To think Koneko-chan has gotten this bold~" The raven haired girl did a little wiggle that did interesting things to her proportions, almost distracting me from her actual words.
I blinked, and Koneko and I glanced back at each other.
Or rather, more specifically, we both looked down to notice the fact that she was still on top of me. She was sitting on my stomach and her face hovered over mine with less than a foot separating us, while still holding me pinned to the ground, entirely at her mercy. Her legs straddled my sides, giving me a dangerous view of her bloomers pressed against me, accentuating her thighs and–
"K-uhh!" I choked out a startled sound in alarm as I snapped my head to the side to look away. 'Nope! Not the time for this, hormones!'
I tried salvaging the situation. "You won Koneko-chan; the spar's over, so you can let me up now, ya'know?!"
My friend– just friend– released my wrists and sat up, her hands settling on her thighs.
I scrambled to get my elbows beneath me and push myself up too, but I ran into a little problem.
"... What did you want, Akeno-senpai?"
Koneko-chan was still sitting on me.
Her face had a hint of red, but was otherwise blank while she stared back at the upperclassman
'And is it just me, or did she just sound more monotone than usual?'
"Uhhh, hello?" I poked my student's knee to try getting her attention after she ignored me. "Koneko-cha-ack!?"
Her tail flicked around and smacked my cheek.
It didn't hurt, I was just surprised by the action, and left momentarily speechless that she would ignore and tail-whip me like that.
"Ufufu~" Akeno giggled, slipping her hands behind her back and bending slightly at the waist to emphasize the chest of her school uniform. She then sighed with an exaggerated pout of regret. "Unfortunately for me, one of my contractors canceled on me last-minute for a family emergency." She brightened. "Luckily, that client gave me-" she brought one of her hands out from behind her, holding up a colorful slip of paper, "-this, as an apology."
"A karaoke voucher?" Koneko didn't seem impressed, her eyes narrowing. "And?"
Akeno smiled with her eyes closed. "And I'm inviting you two to go with me."
I mentally shrugged since I was still on the ground. I'd never done karaoke with friends before.
"Sure." "No."
I glanced up at Koneko with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"
She looked away and crossed her arms resolutely. "... I want to train more."
"There'll be snacks~" Akeno waved the voucher enticingly, expression unchanged.
Koneko's resolve faltered slightly.
Akeno's smile widened. "All the junk food you want, on me."
"Deal."
'I guess we're doing karaoke after all,' I let out an amused breath.
'Now if only Koneko-chan would let me get up!'
"Mirai ni kouun woooo~!" I sang/yelled into the microphone loud and proud and definitely off key. "So- no- chi- no- sa- da- me!"
I inhaled deeply, letting my fighting spirit rise to fill the dimly lit room as I followed the words on the screen.
"Jooooooooooooooooo~ Jo~!"
Koneko clapped politely from the couch with a stick of pocky in her mouth, while Akeno catcalled and whistled wildly next to her.
"Uh. summa-lumma, dooma-lumma, you assumin' I'm a human." Koneko alternated bending her knees slightly, shifting back and forth with the beat in stiff and robotic motions. "What I gotta do to get it through to you, I'm superhuman
Akeno stifled a giggle behind her hand next to me. I didn't bother holding back, and was cracking up
Hearing Koneko rap at high speed in perfect English, monotone as hell, was super weird but extremely funny, especially when she began pointing sideways finger-guns around with straight posture and a blank face.
"Ii kagen~... mattete mo~..." Akeno swayed gently along with the music with closed eyes, the bright sound of piano keys following her angelic voice. "Baka mitai~"
It was an alright song, I guess. Akeno's soulful voice did a lot of the heavy lifting in my opinion, but I could at least understand why a lot of people apparently considered it really emotional and compelling, sometimes to the point of tears, even though I personally was made of sterner stuff than that.
"Dame da ne~, dame yo~, da~me~ na no yo~..."
I felt something press up against my cheek, and glanced down to see that Koneko was reaching up to dab under my eye with a napkin. She wordlessly held it out for me to take with amused eyes.
"Th-thank you, Koneko-ch-chan." I silently mouthed gracefully without any hiccups, accepting the napkin to dry my face and blow my nose while listening to the somewhat decent song.
'All this damn dust in the air, making my eyes water.'
Central Kuoh
(Saturday, July 14th)
It hadn't been hard to sneak into the school's administrative office a while back, to take a look through the student records and find out my friends' birthdays without tipping them off. It was something I hadn't even actually thought about until Akeno ambushed me with my own, which made me feel kinda bad that I hadn't thought to ask any of them until then. Her birthday was a week from now, so I figured I'd head into town, maybe the mall, and walk around until I saw something I thought she might like.
Honestly though, it was kind of hard trying to pick out a gift for her. Not only the fact that, being part of Rias's peerage, she was rich enough to probably buy out entire stores and have cash left over, so anything I could buy would be something she could easily get herself without a second thought, but also the fact that she wasn't even much of a 'material' person.
Aside from her taste in expensive clothes and other, more adult wear that she sometimes flashed at me and Koneko when she wanted to fluster us, she was the type who preferred home-cooked meals over flashy high-end restaurants.
So while I was here to look around and maybe find something to buy as a gift, I was most likely just going to try and make something by hand during the week, using stuff I see today as inspiration. Most of my DIY experience is with making traps, smokebombs, and painting, but a lot of that stuff translated pretty well to crafting other things too, like my bracers.
I was walking past a high end-looking costume store and glanced in the giant window at one of the themed cosplays on display, when I paused in my tracks, something I saw scratching at the back of my mind.
Through reflection on the glass, I caught a glimpse of a figure that I felt like I recognized from somewhere, walking down the other side of the street. I turned my head to look directly, just to see a tall woman with blue hair done up in a hefty bun, and a young girl with blonde pigtails walk through the door of a cafe. What made it stand out more than anything, was that the blonde was wearing a black, wide-skirted dress with white frills, a style I had only actually seen in person once, more than two months ago.
"Isn't that…?" I muttered to myself, watching them step into line through the cafe window while thinking of the childish Fallen that had surrendered without too much fuss.
'Which means… that woman with her probably is too, right?'
Though, the older looking chick didn't seem too happy to be there, going by her stiff posture.
Sure, she could be some regular lady the blonde befriended recently, but the two seemed too familiar with each other.
I remember someone mentioning at one point the blonde Fallen was sticking around town as a sort of joint-custody prisoner to ease tensions after everything that happened. Despite technically being under house arrest, she'd been so helpful in answering Rias's questions that the redhead had decided to basically let her roam as she wished, as long as she didn't leave the town.
The fact that the blonde was so quick to throw her faction under the bus after the incident had nothing to do with them wanting her as far away from their day-to-day operations as possible, I'm sure.
I grinned a little in amusement at that, before another thought crossed my mind.
'If the Fallen have been keeping her out of the loop as much as possible, then why meet up with her now?'
I debated what to do. On the one hand, it was probably nothing, just the Fallen sending someone to check up on her, which would explain the hostility the taller one barely hid; no soldier liked when their comrades betrayed their cause.
On the other hand, it could even be someone from their organization trying to take it into their own hands to 'deal' with a traitor, spending some time trying to get any information out of the blonde before finally acting or something.
Or, it could be the blonde trying to get back in their graces, passing on any damaging info she might have gotten on Red and the others.
I watched the two make their orders and head over to take a seat while they waited.
I glanced back into the costume store, taking in the various outfits and cosplay accessories on the racks, before studying my own features in the reflection, contemplating.
I sighed, coming to a decision.
Whether it was something or nothing, I needed to make sure
'No one will find out,' I promised myself.
I ducked into the store.
Five minutes later, I walked out of the place without anyone the wiser and crossed the street towards the cafe, while quietly humming out a quick tune to get my voice right.
In the costume store, I had tipped a rack off balance as I passed by, just enough so that it fell over after I got further into the building to cause a distraction, allowing me to discretely grab everything I needed to disguise myself. I had then snuck into one of the changing rooms when no one was looking, swapping outfits as fast as possible before walking out of the store without being stopped.
My school clothes were currently tucked away in a bag I'd taken from the front desk while the clerk had been busy cleaning up the mess I made. I made sure to leave enough cash by the register to pay for my 'purchases', as well as a little bit extra for the hassle I put the unknowing worker through.
Entering the cafe and stepping into the line to buy something, I nonchalantly glanced around, pretending to admire the admittedly cozy interior while I looked for the table my targets had claimed.
'What?' I thought in confusion and alarm when I couldn't find them. 'Don't tell me they left already?!'
I made note of the interior and everyone in it, and compared it to what I remember seeing from outside when the two first entered. It took me a couple tries, before I realized that my eyes kept glazing over a particular part of the room, and the gap in my mental map became glaring. Immediately after figuring that out and focusing harder, I laid eyes on the two seated in a corner by the window.
It wasn't that I couldn't find them, they had just put up one of those perception barrier things, a small one that made people ignore them.
The line moved forward, and then it was my turn.
"What can I get you, miss?" The twenty-something year old redheaded lady behind the counter had a forced polite smile, like she couldn't wait for her shift to be over, before it shifted slightly in interest when her eyes raked me up and down.
I pitched my voice up, carefully suppressing my natural rasp. "Just a strawberry shake, please."
I didn't get it quite right, but I was close. All those times transforming into a girl with the Oiroke no Jutsu meant I had a pretty good general feel for how I could adjust my voice to match my old "female form". There were some biological differences between my vocal chords that I just couldn't make up for, but whatever.
The woman's eyes locked onto my neck with raised eyebrows and a giggle. "Oh. Oh. You're totally rocking that outfit, by the way," she began with a grin. "Might want to wear a choker next time, otherwise you're good."
'Dammit.'
I resisted the urge to look away and ignored the comment, meeting her eyes head on, with only the facemask I was wearing to cover my whisker birthmarks to hide my embarrassment.
"Anyways, coming right up, miss." The chick winked and got to work.
Within a minute, money and milkshake exchanged hands, and I was strolling over to take a seat at a table near my targets, my wig's blonde twintails and the black cape swaying behind me. It took a lot of control to make sure I had the right casual-looking walk after that, when all I wanted to do was escape the humiliating situation.
There was something seriously cringe-inducing about actually crossdressing for the sake of espionage, compared to using the Sexy Jutsu. Having my Adam's apple pointed out while dressed in a magical girl cosplay was way more embarrassing than literally fondling my chest in Oiroke form in public.
I sighed in relief as I sat down and pulled out my phone, slipping my shake's straw under my mask to drink and pretending to text someone while I tried listening in to the Fallen's conversation a table over.
…
… Just to not actually hear anything.
'I swear on the fucking Sage…'
I glanced over discretely, and deadpanned.
The frowning blue-haired chick's lips were moving, but no sound left them, swallowed up by whatever barrier they had up.
'Dammit!'
What a waste of effort.
The entrance door chimed, and my eyes widened as a pair of familiar figures walked in, one wearing the Kuoh Academy boy's uniform.
I kept my head low and tilted my phone sideways like I was engrossed in a video, watching from the corner of my eye as Norika and Mitsuri walked up to the counter and began talking with the redheaded barista who looked startlingly similar to Mitsuri now that I saw them side by–
'Oh.' The thought occurred, that today might actually be the unluckiest day of my life. 'They're related.'
The barista leaned over to jab Mitsuri with her elbow, a sly grin on her face as she 'discretely' gestured in my general direction.
I pretended not to notice when my two friends glanced over, hoping they wouldn't recognize me while I was wearing thigh highs. Norika seemed to do a surprised doubletake with zero subtlety when she spotted me, and Mitsuri–
'Why the hell is your face so red, you weirdo?!'
Chapter 39: Canicular 2
Koneko
"Aahhhn~!" Akeno moaned exaggeratedly, "You're going so deep~!"
"Shut it, pervy cow." My brows narrowed in annoyance despite my eyes being closed, even as heat rose to my cheeks at the indecent tone and phrasing. "Take this seriously or I'll leave." Never mind the fact that we were in my own room, sitting on my giant bed.
Akeno was sitting seiza with her back to me, and I kneeled behind her with both of my palms pressed against the warm, smooth skin of her back; one up between her shoulder blades, and the other lower near the center of her back. Even though I said that she didn't need to, Akeno had insisted on taking her shirt off for this, to 'get the best results' for our little test.
The devious wink she sent me through the reflection of my TV screen when she got her top off told me otherwise, as did the deliberate jiggle she gave when she caught me staring at the reflection of her fat udders. Because of course she chose not to wear a bra today.
Needless to say, I had my doubts about how necessary it was.
"I am taking this seriously," Akeno countered with an audible grin, not denying the pervert accusation. "It's not myfault your chakra is filling me up in ways I haven't felt before~"
My face burned.
Inhale.
'Just ignore it. This is for Naruto-kun.'
Exhale.
To explain; For the past week or so, I've been getting close to finishing putting the pieces of Naruto's chakra network back in place.
The issue?
I am still barely at the level of an intermediate healer, even with my ability to comprehensively scan his body in ways Devil healing magic can't. That, and I still haven't figured out how to actually heal non-physical wounds, even a little bit. So even if I finished getting everything in place, it would be like reconstructing a limb that got caught in a wood chipper by squeezing together the mulched meat and bone; the slightest pressure would have everything falling apart again. Sure, his network would heal naturally over time once it was set, like a broken bone, but even with his healing speed, that would probably take many months, if not years to finish with how extensive the damage was.
Kurama's chakra could only help hold it together so well before the sheer potency of his power knocked it over like a house of cards.
That's where the cow comes in.
Because of her Himejima heritage and upbringing as a shrine maiden, Akeno is the best in the peerage at sensing and understanding various energies, and before Asia joined, she was the best healer too. Even that can still be argued, since Asia's healing comes instinctually to her from a Sacred Gear, and Akeno's comes from her own earned skill and understanding of magic and biology.
Anyways, while Akeno had gotten over her total aversion to her Fallen Angel powers after the rating game, and was even training with them now, that didn't mean she liked it, and she had jumped on the excuse to train something else when I approached her with my idea. The fact that she'd already been looking into senjutsu sometime after the rating game on her own time was what even gave me an idea in the first place.
I'd overheard her talking to Akatsuki at one point in the past month, asking about natural energy and what it felt like to sense, mentioning that our training camp location had felt different from Kuoh to Akeno's own senses.
Of course, because Akatsuki and her brother were idiot savants, her explanation was absolutely garbage and made less sense than not having an answer in the first place. The one good bit of info she gave was that there wasn't nearly enough free-floating chakra in Kuoh right now to easily learn how to sense it consistently.
Thus my idea; If there isn't enough natural chakra in Kuoh to get the feel for sensing it, why not find someone with chakra to help her instead?
Akeno had the same idea, but apparently the twins are totally inept with anything other than the "natural" aspects of being a sage, unless it involves each other; basically, their skills with using Senjutsu techniques on other people begins with sensing a person's aura, and ends with casting magic missile aimed that aura.
So I approached Akeno. She gets to get a feel for the unique 'flavor' of the purest expression of life energy known to the supernatural world as I run my chakra through her body, without any of the other energies passively floating around in the world to camouflage it, and in return, she'll be equipped to help me finish healing Naruto-kun.
All I had to do was maintain a strong will against her increasingly forward crass comments.
I had my reputation to uphold, even among friends. I refuse to be corrupted.
"Are you ready?" I asked, opening my eyes to lock eyes with her.
This wasn't our first session, and by now she could sense chakra– my chakra, at least– just fine, and had even quickly gotten the hang of manipulating her own much smaller reserves; just a small cup compared to my bathtub-full in comparison. The real test now was seeing if she could figure out and imitate the change in quality I was capable of, the shift in my chakra's nature that let me sense and interact with a semi-spiritual organ like Naruto's chakra network, or Asia's [Twilight Healing].
"Please be gentle," Akeno asked teasingly, "It's my first time~"
Ha, as if I'd believe a request like that from this sadistic masochist.
If this pervert didn't want to be pounded into the mattress like a slut for her first time, I'd eat her- I mean, my ownpanties.
I violently shoved the lewd image of whatever lacy thingshe called underwear from my mind before it could resolve in my mind as a fantasy.
'Nn, dangerous,' I narrowed my eyes at her reflection, my face hot and carefully keeping my gaze locked above neck level despite the building urge to take a peek at her perky melons. I felt her push her chest out slightly to tempt me, smirking back at me. 'Crafty bitch.'
She'd been abusing my chakra-induced puberty for all it was worth, constantly attacking me at my weakest and bouncing between being scandalously lewd, and being heart-meltingly warm and considerate. I was becoming much more wary of her usual teasing, constantly eyeing her for any signs of funny business, while paradoxically finding myself actually stopping her less often whenever she began her antics.
I refused to consider what that last fact might say about me.
The lewd side was strong today. I was going to have to get some 'alone time' to take care of myself after this, or I'd be distracted by weird thoughts all day.
"I'm starting." I didn't wait for a reply, immediately adjusting my chakra in that familiar way. Like flipping a switch, I went from feeling the unique biology of a Fallen Angel-Devil hybrid, her Demonic power and Holy light, and her much smaller pool of chakra in her abdomen, to sensing, well… noticeably more.
The least surprising of the bunch were the wings. While our wings were fully physical when released, they didn't actuallyfold up into our backs when hiding them, no matter what it seemed or felt like. Our bodies just reabsorbed them, and that was that as far as most people were concerned. Sensing Akeno's wings this way, I couldn't really describe the feeling as anything other than the chakra-equivalent of running my fingers over soft feathers, and warm, leathery skin. While her Angel wings concentrated between her shoulder blades, her Devil wings sat further down in her lower back.
Slightly more surprising, but not really on second thought, was the Queen piece at the center of her demonic power, directly in the center of her chest, partially intersecting where her heart sat physically. We already knew that Evil Pieces didn't dissolve or something like that when used on someone, for a lot of different reasons, but it was also common sense that they didn't physically take up space in the body, otherwise there would be a lot more attempts from other factions to capture a Devil and just rip them out to reverse engineer, so it made a lot of sense that they became something like a spiritual second heart.
What I wasn't expecting was the metaphorical fire that dimly burned in the background of everything. Even without having tried this before on someone with an affinity for fire, the feeling it gave me, even weak as it was, was very… pure, for a lack of a better word for it.
'Oh,' I realized after a moment. 'The Himejima clan's fire thing. Right.'
"Hmmm…" Akeno's voice lost its teasing tone as she finally started focusing. "I definitely felt that." I felt her own chakra slowly shift around and begin poking at mine. "Maybe if I…?"
Some fifty minutes later, Akeno was putting her top back on as we got ready to go our separate ways until later tonight, both of us having other plans for the day.
Even with me adjusting my chakra's properties back and forth multiple times, even slowing down the process for her to observe, she didn't manage to replicate it just yet within the hour-long session we had scheduled for the attempt, though it felt like she had come close.
"So, are you going to meet with Uzumaki-kun now?" Akeno asked curiously as she pulled her blouse down over her chest, her tits wobbling with the motion like oversized water balloons.
"Nn." I shook my head. "Uzumaki-kun is busy today."
"Oh?" Her brows lifted slightly, a teasing smile appearing. "That's a bit odd isn't it? Don't you two always go on dates on Saturdays?"
My traitorous mind pictured it for a split second against my will; wearing cute clothes that kept his bright blue eyes on me, his warm and calloused hand holding my smaller one while we walk through town together.
I flushed. "The arcade, not dates," I denied, even though I knew that she knew that she won this round already.
"Of course, ufufu~" She giggled, pulling free her long hair from her shirt's neck. "I wonder what he's doing then, that had him cancel your not-dates."
I huffed at her sly look, crossing my arms.
"Don't know," I lied, knowing that he was going to shop for a birthday gift for her. "Probably something stupid though. I'm gonna play with Gaspy today instead, try out some cosplay a client wants me to have."
Akeno hummed curiously, and after a little bit more small talk, we soon split to do our own things.
Naruto
"U-uh, your cosplay is really c-cute."
'Super-gramps, if you're listening… kill me,' I prayed, feeling like I'd made a horrible, stupid mistake. 'I've lived a good life. I think I'm ready for the Pure Lands, please.'
"Are you new here?" Mitsuri asked, a hand rubbing her arm shyly. "I could- I mean, we, could, uh, sh-show you around, maybe?"
Although my posture was relaxed, I was dying horribly inside, almost as embarrassed on Mitsuri's behalf as I was myself. Even the kind Norika was cringing at how weird our friend was being, from where she sat a few tables away. After taking their own seats together and talking for a few minutes, the redhead had gotten up and came over to do whatever the hell this was.
The tall girl stood nervously next to my table, acting nothing like the delinquent-adjacent tomboy I knew. With the stuttering pauses and the way her face was beat red, she reminded me of the way some girls back in the academy got when Kiba walked by.
Kuoh Academy and Yuuto Kiba, not Inuzuka. Literally nogirl at the academy back home ever blushed when looking in Dog-breath's direction.
"A-ahh," I kept my voice pitched up and clamped down on the urge to scratch the back of my head as a nervous habit; that would just make it easier for them to figure me out. I took a page from Haku's book. "Actually, I'm a-"
"-A boy, yes." Mitsuri finished for me in a suddenly confident tone, making me recoil slightly, my fake twintails swaying at the motion. The weird smile and intense look in her eyes as she stared at me were frightening, making my instincts scream 'danger'.
"... I was going to say 'a student here.'" I lied when my plan backfired before I could finish. "I'm fine on my own, but thanks anyway." I gave a strained smile and tried to dismiss her, gesturing with my phone. "Now if you'll excuse me, miss? I was… kinda doing something?"
Internally, I was yelling in confusion. 'Didn't she say she wasn't into "soft-looking" guys like Kiba?! Where the hell did this come from?!'
She seemed to realize she was unwelcome and froze in place, her face turning redder and redder.
"... Sorry about that." She turned stiffly and speed-walked away. She passed the table Norika sat at and proceeded into the women's restroom without a word.
I saw the blonde Fallen stand up from the corner of my eye and move towards the exit with a parting wave to her companion, and had to decide whether or not to get up and follow her, or stay and keep an eye on the blue-haired one that was still here. I watched the way she practically skipped out the door, my eyes tracking her limbs intently for the slightest hints of tension.
"Um, excuse me, but… is that you, Naruto-san?"
I whipped my head around, blood draining from my face, to see Norika standing nearby, stepping closer when she saw my reaction.
'How the hell did she know?!'
We stared silently at one another for a moment, before she broke eye contact to glance out the window at the blonde Fallen I'd been watching.
"You tell no one," I hissed (begged) her with a low tone, dropping the fake voice. "I wasn't here and you didn't see me."
"Is… this a, um," her eyes flicked towards the blue haired woman who was glaring out the window at her disappearing companion, oblivious to the rest of the world around her. "A cane thing?" She questioned cautiously, quickly miming gripping and unsheathing a sword.
I quickly put together what she meant, a ninja thing, and gave a single nod.
"I'll just leave you to it, then…" she said with a worried look, before it shifted into a teasing smile. "And don't worry, your secret hobby is safe with me!"
"Wait, what? No, it's not a-!" aaaand she was already walking away. "Gah!"
The door to the women's bathroom door swung open, and Mitsuri stepped out.
"Mitsuri-chan?!" Norika gasped loudly in alarm, getting the rest of the cafe's attention and breaking the blue-haired chick out of her brooding to take a look at the commotion.
Mitsuri's forehead was a darker red than her hair, and there was a singular trail of blood running down between her eyes from behind her messy bangs. Just over her shoulder, there was a little splatter of red on the restroom wall at about her head height.
"Hm?" She tilted her head. "What's up Norika, something the matter?"
"Bwuh-Bwahahahaha!" The redheaded lady behind the counter who made my shake (and was probably related to my friend) burst out laughing like a drunk old man. "Finally got out of your 'Yuri-Yuri (Fake)' mode, Mitsu-chi?"
"Oi!" Mitsuri rounded on her, Gorilla Mode instantly activated.
I looked away trying to ignore the growing spectacle, and glanced back at the blue-haired ch–
'Where'd she go?!' The table was empty.
Through the window, I saw a flash of a blue bun on the other side of the street, turning a corner.
I jumped out of my seat and rushed out the door, not giving a shit that my skirt was flapping just as much as my cape in my rush to catch up.
I may be the idiot who decided wearing a magical girl outfit as a disguise was a good idea, but I wasn't the type of idiot to change out of my boxers while doing that!
I quickly caught up with the unknown probable-Fallen, keeping to a safe, discrete distance away from her, and keeping people between us to avoid notice.
I followed for a couple minutes as she walked down side streets towards the less busy part of the town center. As the streets got less crowded, I began having to fall back to further distances to keep out of sight.
'Wait a sec– Shit! Stupid!'
It took an embarrassingly long amount of time for me to notice I accidentally left my bag with my actual clothes at the cafe, and I only realized it when I had the thought that it would be easier to throw off any suspicion if I could duck into an alley and change back.
Even though I knew it was a less busy area, it struck me as odd when I turned a corner to see her step into an alleyway a few buildings away from me, and I realized that I was the only person left out on the sidewalk.
My eyes narrowed, and I glanced at the building next to me, judgingly.
Less than thirty seconds later, I had climbed to the top and silently roof hopped over to the building overlooking the alley the chick had entered.
'Heh, knew it.'
I pulled a kunai out from where I'd hidden it in my skirt's waistband as I casually walked up behind the Fallen with an amused grin, watched her staring down into the alley, probably waiting for me to walk in looking for her.
It was a little awkward with her being about half a foot taller than me, and the tensed pair of black feathered wings jutting out of her back, but I reached up and slid the knife around her neck to tap the blade lightly against her throat once, instantly making sure to return it to hovering a couple centimeters off her skin just in case she jerked forward.
Luckily she only stiffened at the touch of the warm metal, I would have hated for her to get hurt without having actually done anything to pick a fight. I didn't actually intend to kill her, even if it turns out she's up to something no good.
"You were talking to that blonde Fallen earlier." I didn't bother changing my voice anymore, now that there wasn't anyone who might recognize me around. "Last I checked, there were only two Fallen allowed in Kuoh right now, and you aren't either of them."
The blonde– Mitty or whatever her name was– and her Grigori probation handler, some dude I haven't met before, only heard mention of from the others in the aftermath of the church incident. Definitely not a woman.
Though, now that I was this close, something about this chick itched at the back of my mind a little…
I shook it off.
"So, let's chat for a bit. Get to know each other, ya know?"
Koneko
I stepped out of the private back room of my client's boutique costume store, the light from my teleport circle having died down by the time I opened the door into the small break room. The owner of this store– a young woman with straight dark brown hair and perpetually bandaged fingers– sat at the small round table in the center of the room, in the middle of blowing on raised chopsticks that had practically an entire cup-ramen's worth of noodles hanging from the utensils.
She blinked at me.
"... Glutton."
"I don't wanna hear that from you!" She fired back with an outraged expression, dropping her noodles into the cup to point at me with her chopsticks.
Her eyes widened slightly.
After a moment's pause, the chopsticks clattered onto the table and I was suddenly being tackle-glomped by a twenty-something year old woman, one who measured five-foot-nothing and weighed less than a hundred pounds, but still somehow had half a head of height and two cup sizes over me.
"Ko-tan~! Guh!"
Naturally, I glued my feet to the floor, and so her diving tackle ended up knocking her breath out of her when I gave no ground whatsoever to her impact. The smell of ramen on her breath overpowered her usual citrus-scented shampoo at this range, which probably meant the cup ramen she'd been about to eat wasn't the first, or even second cup she'd had in that sitting.
Enako-san called on my services often enough that I had said 'screw it', and gotten her a permanent summoning circle inscribed onto her personal workshop's floor. Giving someone access to a permanent circle instead of the usual single-use papers was probably something most devils reserved for really close allies and not regular contractors, but… I didn't really care. Enako-san liked dressing me up a lot and called me frequently, and remembering to bring extra summoning flyers every time was a hassle, so meh.
It helped that she also tended to give me a lot more free stuff than she needed to for our contract to be fulfilled, and I liked free stuff.
"Hi." I said simply, not particularly reacting as her hands slid over my body while she regained her frazzled breath. The woman was basically clothing-sexual, and she adored the Kuoh Academy girls uniform almost as much as her prize-winning Nagato Yuki cosplays, so she took every chance she got to feel up the fabric and stitching of my uniform whenever I showed up wearing it. I did note that she took her sweet time this time, not-groping me for a whole fifty percent longer than usual. "I'm here to grab those outfits you offered."
"Ohh~, that's right!" She straightened instantly, clapping her hands excitedly and wiggling in place. "I can't wait!"
I looked at her blankly. "I'm not gonna change into them right now, you know."
She waved off my statement with a bright smile, unbothered.
"It's fine, it's fine~! It's enough for me just to know my favorite model has more cute new clothes to wear, made by my hands, eheheh~!" She grabbed my hand while spinning around to march towards the shop floor, and I let her drag me.
The moment she opened the door to the public space though, I perked up when my nose twitched.
'Naruto-kun was here.' I noted curiously, recognizing the remnants of his scent as I breathed it in. A mixture of the normal slightly sweaty musk that wafted off of teenage males no matter how well they washed themselves, the earthy, verdant aroma of nature that clung to him from the amount of time he spent training in the town's forests and parks, and the oil-based lubricant he used for maintaining his various blades and hidden forearm bracers. 'Smell's weak, but recent.'
I glanced at the shopfront entrance, and saw a sheet of paper taped to the glass door saying "closed for lunch" in dark kanji, the font big and bold enough that I could read it backwards through the page.
"If I seem a little frazzled today-" Enako began while ducking behind the employee counter, which was usually manned by part-timers most days. "-it's just because I had to deal with a weird situation caused by a super strange customer today, so please bear with me." As the main couturier behind the store's commissioned outfits, she didn't have much time to man the register herself, especially on weekends, which was when she tended to go into cram-mode to finish up any costumes she had in her backlog. It was why our usual contract was for Mondays, she liked to dress me up and take pictures to de-stress. "I even had to close for a bit to check the security cameras and make sure I wasn't going crazy!"
The cosplayer-turned-clothier rummaged around out of sight underneath the counter, and I took the moment to confirm what I already knew.
"What did he do?"
"He tipped over a shelf when no one was looking, grabbed a facemask, a high-end wig, and one of my pre-made Fate Testarossa cosplays to change into, then left over double the amount owed in cash next to the register, all without anyone noticing–! Wait a minute..."
The small woman popped up with two clothing bags in her hands, sending me an odd look. "How did you know it was a he?"
"Blond hair? Kuoh boy's uniform? Pretty short?" I asked instead, ignoring the question.
She nodded to all three, eyebrows raising higher and higher.
"Congratulations," I deadpanned, "You can officially say a ninja shopped at your store. He's a classmate, and my ninjutsu teacher."
She blinked a couple times.
Then she squealed in delight.
I walked out of the store a few minutes later, having teleported the bags she gave me to my room, and took a deep whiff of the outside air to try picking up the trail.
The whiskered idiot still had that picture of me covered head to toe in leaves on his phone, so I figured Gya-kun could wait a little longer while I went on this mission; it was the perfect time for me to snag some blackmail of my own to hold over Naruto-sensei, and keep him in check.
I did promise myself I'd get revenge for that transgression sooner or later, now I just had to find him.
His scent went in multiple directions, so I chose the closest option first and walked into the cafe across the street, just to cover all my bases even though I was pretty sure he'd moved on already.
Upon entering, I immediately noticed a couple things.
Namely, Mitsuri and Norika were here, Naruto was not, and the stench of recent Fallen magic hung around a window table.
I beelined straight for their table, noting that Norika seemed to notice me just as quickly as I noticed her, her eyes glancing awkwardly between me and Mitsuri as I moved toward them. The redhead herself had buried her head in her arms as her upper body lay sprawled across the table.
"Hello Koneko-chan…" Norika greeted me with a weirdly conflicted smile.
Mitsuri lazily lifted her head up, revealing a red forehead with a bandaid sticking out beneath her bangs. "Hey."
"Hi." I greeted them back, eyeing her curiously. "Have you guys seen Uzumaki-kun anywhere?"
"Nope." "Umm…"
Mitsuri sat up a little bit, looking at Norika questioningly, and Norika seemed to cringe as if she made a mistake.
"... No?" The glasses wearing girl tried.
The tomboy squinted at her, before she had a realization and paled, face instantly going as white as my tail.
"... Oh."
Mitsuri proceeded to violently slam her forehead onto the table, startling other patrons and getting an annoyed shout from one of the employees.
"Kill me," she moaned into the table. "Kill me now."
The slightly sweet, iron-y smell of blood reached my nose.
As confused and curious as I was, I ignored the amusing and slightly concerning sight to look at Norika since.
"... You missed him by a couple minutes," she admitted to me after her horrifically bad attempt at lying. "He left in a hurry to follow someone and left his stuff at his table."
I followed her finger as she pointed to a table relatively close to the one covered in that Fallen magic, and I spotted a clothing bag identical to the ones Enako sent me off with, as well as a styrofoam cup with the order number written on the side in sharpie.
"Thanks," I nodded at her. "See you Monday?"
"Mm!" She nodded back with a bright hum, while Mitsuri wallowed in her own little world.
I grabbed Naruto's stuff and left, following the scent trail that had traces of his strawberry drink mixed in.
Soon enough, I crossed into a less busy part of town and approached a Fallen-brand barrier, my fur stiffening underneath the transformation keeping my Nekoshou appendages hidden as I passed through the Holy Light-based barrier.
I lifted my head and sniffed when the trail stopped leading me forward.
He was close, practically on top of me, as was a Fallen with their wings out, from the bird-like scent. So where-
'Oh, right. Duh.'
I glanced around to make sure there weren't any security cameras around, before bending my knees, and jumping straight up to the top of the four-story building in one go, careful not to drop my collateral goods.
Proving my intuition right, I began hearing the faint sound of my friend's voice nearly a block away, the couple of taller buildings between us distorting the words themselves.
Out of sight of the street level and any potential witnesses in case the anti-pedestrian barrier drops suddenly, I released my ears.
"-told you I just wanted some questions answered, see?"
I snuck up and across the rest of the distance in a matter of seconds, landing silently on the roof behind him and setting down the bag with his school uniform to pull out my phone. He was in the process of tucking a kunai away, his arm pushing the black cape to the side to reveal a wide-belted skirt.
"I wasn't lying, when I said-"
Naruto
"-I don't want to hurt you, ya know," I assured the lady as she jumped away to make some distance, now that there wasn't a knife at her neck anymore. "There was some trouble in town a while back, and I just needed to make sure I stayed safe while figuring things out."
While she was clearly leaving out something when she said a superior sent her here to confirm some things about the increased Five-Principal clans' presence in the area, it was also pretty clear she wasn't lying when she said she didn't want to be here, and didn't want to cause any trouble. Apparently there was some bad blood between the Grigori and the clans, and her higher-ups wanted to know what the deal was.
"Tch," she clicked her teeth. "I-"
Click-
Flash!
Both of us turned at the sound.
I stared uncomprehendingly while Koneko held up her phone aimed at me, absently sipping on a familiar looking drink in her other hand. I saw the bag sitting next to her and-
'Wait a second, isn't that-?'
Click-
Flash!
Her camera blinked again and she lowered the device to stare into my eyes.
The tiniest, smuggest smirk appeared on her face.
My eyes widened as I realized the position she had put me in.
Her lips parted.
"Heh."
I lunged.
She quickly stuffed her phone down her shirt and I froze in place, arm outstretched with my fingertips inches away from her collar.
"Why did you stop, Uzumaki-kun?" Koneko's head tilted 'innocently'. "My phone's right here."
I snatched my hand back and straightened up stiffly, gritting my teeth as my mind raced to find a way to salvage the situation while I eyed the lump beneath her uniform top.
I might literally die of shame if she chose not to show mercy, but I couldn't think of anything immediately, so I gave up and changed tracks.
'Besides, Koneko-chan being merciful?'
Who was I kidding, this situation was an unrecoverable disaster. The only bright side was that my whiskers were still covered by the cloth mask I was wearing, so I still had some plausible deniability outside of my two shortest friends even if she showed anyone else.
'Might as well go down swinging, then.'
"Nah," I lied with a forced scoff, turning my head away. "I pulled back because I didn't want to accidentally break my fingers on a washboard trying to get it."
"By the way, why'd you let Kalawarner go?" Koneko was quick to change topics as if she wasn't suddenly glaring death into the side of my head at the comment. "I thought the Grigori told Rias she was on punishment duties at their HQ."
The Fallen had taken our little not-scuffle as a chance to make herself scarce by teleporting away.
"Kalawhat-now?" I asked, turning back to her with a blink. The name sounded vaguely like I could have heard it before, but I definitely didn't recognize the woman. She was pretty damn tall, I'd probably remember it if I'd ever met her before.
"You knocked her out like three months ago," Koneko deadpanned. "The other Fallen from the church."
I turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "... You mean the chick I took out instantly from above? In a dark forest with barely any light for me to see, that I never really got a good look at? That's who that Fallen just now was?"
Koneko blinked.
"... Oh."
I snorted.
Koneko shifted on one foot. "... We should probably go tell Rias, then."
I shrugged and stepped towards the bag with my clothes. "Sure, just let me change real quick–"
I deadpanned when it disappeared into a magic circle with a flash of light.
"Really?"
It reappeared with another flash-
-Just to disappear again when I reached out a hand for it, leaving me hanging.
"Now you're just messing with me."
"Mm." She nodded. The bag reappeared.
I swiped my hand up and grabbed my stolen milkshake out of her grip before she realized what I was aiming for instead, and pulled off my mask, bringing the straw up to my lips to take a sip.
… I was met with the sound of air being sucked through the straw.
'Of course it's already empty.'
I tossed the cup to the side where it bounced over the edge of the roof, glaring without any real heat at the short catgirl. It was my fault for abandoning it in the first place, but still!
She was staring at where the cup disappeared, her face turning a bit red for some reason, so I took the chance to snag the bag with my clothes while she was distracted, and turned away to begin pulling off the costume, staring with the wig and cape.
"Huh-? Don't undress in front of me, idiot!" Koneko's usual composure strained when I started peeling off the rest of the outfit, not quite yelling, but definitely speaking with an intensity that was rare for her.
"I still need to go shopping today, and I'm not doing that while dressed like this," I argued, not bothering to turn to face her. "And I'm still wearing my boxers anyway, so it's fine, right? Not like you haven't seen me shirtless before. Just turn around if it bothers you that much."
She muttered something under her breath that I couldn't hear but otherwise didn't push the issue, instead choosing to pull out her phone and call Red on speaker mode.
I had the feeling crazy things were going to start happening in town again soon.